Reports

Two day protest
dharna on 7-8 November, organised by the 546 dismissed workers of Maruti-Suzuki
at Manesar, under the banner of now defunct trade union, Maruti Suzuki Workers’
Union (MSWU), failed to make any dent, as the pro-corporate media ignored it and
its Centrist-Stalinist leaders isolated the action, consciously.

Giving no
weight to the protest, Maruti-Suzuki India Ltd. announced that it is gearing up
to increase production. “Production is normal at Manesar. By December, we plan
to roll out 1,950 cars per day, compared to the 1,700 units we produced in
July,” said a company executive.

At
present 4000 workers are employed in the Manesar plant, which company is planning
to increase to more than 6000, recruiting about 500 per month.

Earlier, Maruti
Suzuki had cut by a third its regular workforce and dismissed 546 employees in
connection with the violent labour unrest at its Manesar facility on July 18,
out of which more than 160 are still languishing in jail.

Workers
had been conducting struggle against the sweat shop working conditions and total
absence of minimum trade union rights, since 2009, inside the Manesar plant. The
month long strike in 2011, had resulted in production loss of 77,000 units to
the company. Entering into a blind alley in face of determination of the workers
to a spontaneous strike action in 2011, the management had smothered the
struggle through outright purchase of the trade union leaders in 2011.

After the
whole leadership of MSWU, headed by Sonu Gujjar, had betrayed the struggle, receiving
hefty bribes from the company, the company had started to virtually pulverise
the workers inside the Manesar plant. The result was a clash on 18th
July 2012, between workers and the ‘bouncers’ appointed by the management, resulting
in arson inside the plant, death of an official and injuries to many.

The trade
union bureaucracies under Social-Democrats (HMS), Centrists (NTUI), Stalinists (CITU-AITUC) and Maoists (AICCTU, IFTU etc),
took no time in condemning the ‘violence’ terming the same as ‘unfortunate’ or
a ‘wrong turn’ to the ‘peaceful’ struggle. Immediately after the incident, on
20th July, the Deputy Commissioner of the city called a meeting of trade union
leaders to pacify the nerves of workers, preventing them from starting a broad
solidarity action in support of the Maruti Workers.The trade
unions affiliated to Social-Democrats, Centrists, Stalinists and Maoists of
many hues, not only obediently came in attendance, but pledged support to all
efforts aimed at “industrial peace”. These trade union leaders forthwith intervened
to prevent the workers at other plants in Manesar, from starting a strike
action. This emboldened the pro-corporate state to unleash a reign of
repression against the struggling workers. The police immediately arrested more
than 100 workers who had been most active in the struggle and started a blind
hunt to rope in others. While the trade union leaders held back the Maruti
workers to fight back and other sections of workers from coming to their aid, the
police registered false cases against the workers, continued to arrest them and
subjected them to most brutal torture, as is described in a later investigation
by the PUDR team. With the implicit
collaboration of these trade union leaders, police thus succeeded in imposing savage
terror.

To
further isolate the dismissed workers, the trade unions have facilitated the signing
of a separate wage settlement with the management in September this year,
stipulating historic increase in monthly salaries upto Rs. 14,800/-, and
regularisation of 1870 contract/ casual workers. What is being done to meet the
imperatives of future increase in production, would be used as a tool to
isolate the dismissed and arrested workers.To keep the movement under their grip and hold back the workers under their control, these capitulationists, covert servants of the capital, have forged an alliance among themselves into a 'unity forum' that includes 14 such trade unions affiliated with different stalinist-maoist-centrist parties and groups. The task of this forum is to keep the workers at Maruti within confines of legal action and insulate them from influence of revolutionary idea of initiating a class action against their class enemies.Arrest of around 160 workers on fake charges of conspiracy, arson and murder had presented itself as a great opportunity for opening a huge political offensive against the Congress government in Haryana and at Centre. Bare fact, that majority of those arrested included the workers having roots in agrarian communities in surrounding villages of Manesar, cutting across the caste divides of dalit-jat-gujjar, the divide upon which rests the critical built-up of bourgeois politics in Haryana, was a ready bastion for united class action of workers and peasants against the corpoarte state and bourgeois parties. But the trade union leaders, those compromisers, pushed the workers into blind alley of 'peaceful and legal demands'. Shamelessly
opposing the proposal of activists of WSP for giving clarion call to the
workers in Manesar and all over Haryana, for a indefinite general strike against the state government, these
trade union bureaucrats, misled the workers towards alleged ‘peaceful’ means of
sloganeering outside the Haryana Bhawan at New Delhi, representations to state
authorities, sending fact-finding teams, legal action in courts etc.

While outrightly
rejecting the idea to support the two day protest dharna of Maruti workers, Union
leaders at the Gurgaon plant of Maruti-Suzuki, Maruti Udyog Kamgar Union (MUKU), have indicated they would render limited
support to protest rally on Thursday, as expression of ‘solidarity’. “We will
not participate in the hunger strike but will support the rally on Thursday”,
said Kuldeep Jhangu, general secretary of MUKU.

Trade
union leaders have actively assisted the management, since very beginning of
the struggle, in failing the workers’ struggle, by inducing divisions among the
workers and thereby isolating the struggling workers. Firstly, they isolated
the striking workers at Manesar plant preventing other sections of workers from
coming to their aid. Then they divided the regular and contract/casual workers
inside the plant. Then they isolated the dismissed workers from those who were
still working. And lastly they isolated those who are under arrest, by cleverly
restricting the demand for reinstatement only for those who are not implicated
in criminal cases. “We want the
reinstatement of all colleagues not charged by the special investigation team
(SIT) and a proper and unbiased inquiry into the incident,” said Om Prakash, a member
of HMS. Demand for a ‘proper and unbiased inquiry’ is yet another tool for
reposing the faith in legitimacy of the openly pro-corporate state.

Workers
at Maruti-Suzuki, despite all of their sincere wishes and best efforts, cannot
win the struggle against the united might of corporates and the state under
them, through their efforts alone. The struggling workers must join hands with
their class brethren to launch a real and broad offensive against the combined
might of corporate and the state.